The Death of Donna
by kisshermulder
Summary: Donna Temple is old. She is sick. She is dying. The Doctor is here to see what he can do for his best friend. This is my first fanfiction ever. Please review it. I would love the input. Thanks.


Oh god. A fan fiction. How exciting. This will be short. This will be bad. This will be Doctor Who related. Deal with it.

Donna Temple was old. She was tired. Her children had long since left her for their own adventures. Her husband, Shaun, had died two years ago, and now, she was dying. The truth of it was unavoidable.

She was in a hospital bed. A chipper young nurse had just been in to give her the last meal of the day, meat loaf and jell-o. Donna had been unnecessarily rude to the girl. Her hot temper had once again gotten the better of her, and though weakened by her sickness, she knew she had truly hurt the girl. Part of her wanted to call the woman back in to apologize, but another part of her, a larger part of her just wanted to be left alone. She knew she had very little time left, and she wanted to spend it alone with her thoughts.

Being that as it was, Donna was none too pleased when the door to her private room opened and a skinny young man in a white doctor's coat came in. She was about to give him a piece of her mind, when the young man gave her a smile. Something about the smile made her stop. It stirred something in her, something that hadn't been stirred in a longtime.

"Good evening, Ma'am." The young man said as he grabbed her chart off the end of the bed. He glanced over it as he asked. "And how are we this evening?"

Donna pursed her lips. She may have felt a soft spot for the man, but she wasn't so far gone that she wouldn't give him the same honesty she gave to all of her doctors. "I'm dying, Doctor. How do you think I'm doing?"

The young man's eyes flickered up from the paper and locked with her's. For a split second they looked in each other's eyes. Sadness flickered in his eyes, a deep and overwhelming sadness. She knew her eyes must have been betraying her own frustration.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, he looked back down to her charts. "Well, Mrs. Temple, it says here that you're in some pain, and we have you on a few pain killers to help."

"Yeah, well, they aren't helping anymore." Donna snapped. They hadn't been helping for a long time. She was in constant pain, an all over all consuming pain. She fought it's degenerating effects with her whole heart, but she knew that soon, she probably wouldn't be able to think clearly enough to fight it. She would be helpless.

"May I take a look at something?" The young doctor asked.

Donna frowned. "Yeah, fine. Whatever you like." She just wanted him to leave her now. Let her have her peace.

The doctor came up beside her and pulled open his coat, to reveal a tweed jacket and some red brace underneath. From the jacket, he pulled out a small metallic wand that had a strange green glowing bulb at the end of it. He held it up to her chest and pressed a button. It whirred to life, making a high pitched sound as he seemingly scanned her body. The sound was somehow familiar to Donna, though she couldn't for the life of her think of where she had heard it before.

The man clicked the strange device closed and held it up to his face.

A moment later he dropped it back into his pocket. "Oh, Donna." He whispered.

Donna raised an eyebrow. "What?" She asked.

The man reached out and took her hands in his. The gesture was intimate, but instead of pulling away, Donna felt herself turn to take his hands too.

"Oh Donna" He repeated, once again looking into her eyes. The sadness she had seen before had turned to devastation. In that moment she knew he really felt heartbroken over her. A complete stranger was heartbroken over her. When he spoke, his words were heavy with emotion. "I am so sorry. So, so sorry."

Suddenly, Donna felt a wetness on her cheek. She reached up and felt a tear on her finger. She didn't understand why she was crying. She hadn't cried since the anniversary of Shaun's death three months before. She hadn't shed a single tear when the doctors told her she only had a few months left to live. She had felt numb. Now, suddenly, a flood of emotion came pouring into her.

The young doctor leaned in and rested his forehead against her own and held her hands as she let it out. As she let go of every bit of sadness she had held back in the last few months. Every bit of worry, of anger, of sadness she had held in so carefully came out, and the man just held her hands.

When the water works began to slow, the man pulled away.

"Donna Noble." He used her maiden name. Something she hadn't been called in years. She had hated being Donna Noble. Donna Noble was a daft temp who never could reach her full potential. Donna Noble was a nobody. Donna Noble was-

"Donna Noble." The man interrupted her thought. "The most important woman in the universe. So much compassion, so much emotion. She was so cheeky, so empathetic, so beautiful. She saved the world." He paused. "Donna Noble, the woman who saved my life." He locked eyes with her, and she saw tears building in their blue depths. "I needed someone, and you were there. I'm sorry I couldn't have been there for you." A single tear slid down his cheek. "So, sorry."

Donna sat in stunned silence. Something in her mind was stirring, something deep, deep inside. Something that wanted desperately to get out.

"Donna Noble, you're dying." The man said. "You're dying and I can't do anything about it." He gulped and once again took her hand. "I want you to see how wonderful you were. How absolutely stunning you are." He squeezed her hand. "Donna, if I let you remember me, you will die. You will burn up and die."

Donna squeezed his hand back. "Show me. Please." He studied her face for a moment. "Please, I'm already dying. I want to know you. I want to remember who I was."

He turned her hand over in his. "Donna Noble, I just want you to know that you were my best mate. Letting you go was…" He didn't finish. "Donna, are you sure?"

It took Donna a moment to answer. When she did, she was satisfied that she was making the right choice.

"Yes. I'm sure."

The young man touched his lips to her fore head. "Alright then. I'm so sorry it had to be this way." He smiled a sad weary smile. "Good bye, Donna Noble."

With that, he took her face in his hands and closed his eyes.

The wall keeping the memories out came crashing down. Suddenly, she remembered who she had been, who she was. She remembered how special she had been, how strong, how passionate. She remembered her adventures, the dangers the triumphs. And then, finally, she remembered him.

Her eyes flew open for a moment and she looked him deep in his eyes. She smiled at him. He might not have been her man, but he was still the man.

"Good bye, Doctor." She said.

She felt content. For the first time in her life she felt like she was really something. Really alive. She was only conscious for a second before she burned.

But it was the best second of her life.


End file.
